The Giants just finished a flurry of moves to set their opening day roster, and the fascinating thing is that almost each one displays a lean towards keeping younger players in bigger roles.

That’s quite new for the Giants. I salute the change up in thinking and I actually believe GM Brian Sabean has been leaning this way from spring training on, though as we all know, the Giants’ usual fall-back option is to go with old guys.

They’re not doing that, at least to start 2012.

-They’re carrying rookie Hector Sanchez as the only back-up catcher, which is very surprising to me since we know Bruce Bochy really values veteran know-how behind the plate.

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Also, with Buster Posey set for a game or two at 1B, that means Sanchez will get major playing time immediately. He might become somebody’s personal catcher (Zito?), plus another start here or there.

I think the uncertain Posey situation actually worked in Sanchez’s favor–if you know you’re giving 6 to 8 AB’s a week to somebody, you want a guy who can possibly scare opponent pitchers, and that’s not Eli Whiteside or Chris Stewart.

Stewart was traded to the Yankees, but Whiteside will be close by in the minors if there are any bumps in the road for Posey (health) or Sanchez (health or performance).

-Brett Pill made the team as a back-up at first, third, possibly second and left field.

Pill might be the swing guy for Freddy Sanchez–when and if Sanchez gets healthy, this might be the roster spot he takes.

But if Pill gets some time and starts hitting, his bat might be tough to remove from the roster. Plus, he’s 27, so it’s not like the Giants or Pill have time to wait around for more development.

You can see the overall Giants’ world view in 2012: They’re locking up their great starting pitching, so they’ve got to find as much hitting as they can with the roster they have.

Big picture: They don’t have a lot of free-agent dollars to spend into the future (if they’re going to lock up Lincecum), and there aren’t a lot of great hitters coming into free-agency soon, anyway.

They need to maximize the hitting they’ve got.

That means keeping Pill–for now–and seeing what he’s got. If he hits in spot play, he’ll get more ABs.

-Bochy is not denying that he’s thinking of playing Brandon Belt at first base to start the season, with Aubrey Huff moving to left, and presumably Melky Cabrera to right and Nate Schierholtz to the bench as the fourth OF.
It really is time for Belt to play first base and see if he can keep the job, with 4 ABs a day.

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There’s no doubt that the Giants need Belt at 1B eventually–Huff’s in the last year of his contract–and the Giants are simply a better team if they can count on Belt to produce like he has always done in the minor leagues.

2–I’ve tried to boil down what the Sharks need to happen in the last two games of the season to win the division, but it’s just too complicated.
I tried, anyway. I’m sure I got it all wrong, but that’s why the NHL is fun. I say stuff, hockey fans say I’m entirely wrong.

But at this point, getting that No. 3 seed is crucial for the Sharks, just to lock up home-ice advantage in the first two rounds at the very least.

And to avoid the 7th seed, which is the highest seed the Sharks could get if they don’t win the Pacific–and the 7th seed probably draws the dreaded St. Louis (currently No. 2, three points behind Vancouver).

Sharks vs. Blues in the first round, with the first two games (and possibly seventh) in St. Louis? Not a tremendous match-up for your Teal Team, I’d say.

And if the Sharks should beat St. Louis, they’d probably locked in for a second-round match-up against Vancouver, again, with Vancouver getting the first two games (and possible seventh) at home.

Winning the division should be a huge goal. It’s clear that if the Sharks sweep the division-leading Kings in the home-and-home, starting tomorrow in LA, the Sharks will be in good position to win the division.

(The Coyotes would need to win out to edge the Sharks for first in such a scenario.)

All the Sharks need to clinch a playoff spot–not the division title–is one win over the Kings in the remaining two.

The vitals:

-The Kings lead the division with 93 points and 34 regulation or overtime victories.

-Phoenix is 2nd in the division (and in 7th place in the West) with 93 points and 34 regulation or overtime victories, losing the second tiebreaker to the LAKs.

-The Sharks are 3rd in the division (and 8th in the West) with 92 points and 33 regulation or overtime victories.

If the Sharks end up tied in points with Phoenix and IF it goes to the second tiebreaker, the Coyotes won the season head-to-head.

If the Sharks end up tied with the Kings in points and regulation and OT victories (which would be the case if the Sharks win one of the games outright and then lose one in a shoot-out), it would go to head-to-head.

That would be decided by the next two games; currently the Kings have out-pointed the Sharks 4-3 in the season series.

I don’t even know if the head-to-head tiebreaker is decided by outright points, but I will assume it is.

I’m sure I’ll hear loud catcalls if it’s not.

3–One more point on the 49ers and Raiders putting their exhibition series on hiatus this season…

The Raiders wanted to continue playing the game. The 49ers adamantly did not, and shut it down.

This should tell you all you need to know about both teams’ attitudes concerning the possibility of sharing the 49ers’ new Santa Clara stadium, presumably ready by the 2014 season.

The 49ers have gotten the financing–a massive undertaking–without the Raiders on board, and if the Raiders were going to get on board, the 49ers wanted them in early and as equity partners.

That did not happen. There were a lot of reasons for this, many of them involving Al Davis’ focus on the present, not the future, in his last few years, plus his distaste for joining the 49ers in a stadium away from the Raiders’ East Bay base.

And all alternate Raiders attempts to stay in play for Santa Clara involved a mini-gamble: That the 49ers wouldn’t be able to do this without the Raiders. (Not a terrible gamble, I’d say, since I agreed with the Raiders’ guess.)

After Davis’ death, the Raiders’ stadium focus was set on the 49ers not getting NFL money if it didn’t include the Raiders, and the 49ers not being able to land a financing plan by themselves.

But the NFL money came through, the financing plan happened, and now… the Raiders are not a part of the Santa Clara future.

Could the Raiders come in late as tenants in 2014 if they find common ground with the 49ers? I’m sure that’s a possibility.

But it’s not the likeliest. The 49ers love the idea of getting this done themselves, the Raiders properly are more interested in doing something themselves in the East Bay (or cutting a deal with LA interests).

Also, if they don’t have to, would the 49ers want to sublet their gleaming new stadium to anybody 8 to 10 times a year, especially the Raiders?

Tim Kawakami

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boch and sabes making good smart baseball moves not based on senority? this is the 2nd sign of the apocolypse.

prima facie

If you thought “seniority” was the sole basis for Giants roster decisions in the past, well, you just don’t pay attention. It was more like, veteran player who may or may not get it done vs. young player who may or may not get it done, roll the dice with experience.

qtlaw

I love the look of the Giants roster. Its amazing how the Giants have been transformed from the Ray Durham/Rowand/Tejada retreat foundation into the youthful foundation of Posey/Crawford/Panda/Belt. Sabean finally found his version of Jeter/Posada/Rivera.

Let’s Get Free

The Giants are doing it the right way: draft well, develop the talent, and then pay to keep them: Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner, Wilson, Romo, Posey, Sandoval, Belt, Crawford, and hopefully H. Sanchez, Gary Brown, Joe Panik . . . I would hope even the lunatic fringe would applaud this team’s direction.

fanfor life

It Is about time but I’m delighted to see youth vs over-the-hill
guys!!!!

Niners in 2012

Giants still can’t hit their way out of a paper bag. They got like $60M between Zito, Lincecum, Cain this year. That’s crazy. They need some hitting.

Tired Fan

Remember the ’60’s when we had hitting, not the outstanding pitching. Think we came in 2nd every year. Talk about frustrating.

The Thrill

The hitting has to come from inside the organization. How many FA hitters worth a damn have hit the market recently?

Skinman13

Tim,
Sharks winning the division guarantees only one round of home ice advantage.

That Man

Some strange math there TK. As Skinman said, #3 seed is only one round of home ice.

And,

“I don’t even know if the head-to-head tiebreaker is decided by outright points, but I will assume it is.”

What does that mean? If you have more points, then you don’t need a tie-breaker.

But then again, the Sharks have proved time and time again that home ice doesn’t mean squat. A hot goalie and a bit of momentum…

Also-Terrible win by the Warriors tonight. Could have fallen into a tie for the #5 spot with 20 wins. Not to worry, there is only one more game against a team with a worse record than the dubs. Tankcity!

Luke mcwarmsky

if you want to be a condescending troll, it actually is veteran position player that plays over young position player.

but i’m happy obvious talent wins over entrenched ideologies.

jsteez

Nate > Aubrey. Huff is a leader/vet and all that, but he’s not the same guy from 2010. Nate is a stud, particularly on defense, so he should start. Keep Huff for pinch hitting and giving days off to Nate, Brandon, and Melky.

Blueintheface

Good idea to start Sanchez off with Zito. Probably best to get the rookie up to speed with some soft-toss.

jason

Play Ball!!!

Twinkie defense

Raiders don’t want to be in Santa Clara. I don’t think I will ever watch a Niners game there, big risk of losing the base fans if you ask me.